Abstract:
The use of blockchain technology to establish food traceability chains has the potential to provide transparent information of food stuffs along the entire supply chain and also aid in the documentation or even execution of official food control processes. Particularly in instances where analytical methodologies cannot provide definitive data for food control questions under study, the certificate-based approach of a traceability chain may offer a way of regulatory control for state authorities. Given the rising importance of organic produce and the high share of eggs among the organic produce in the European Union as well as the new EU regulation on organic products and labelling that came into force in 2022, we analyze here how the control of egg production type and marketing standards can be represented within a blockchain-based traceability chain such as to maximize the traceability in compliance with the current relevant EU regulations. Intended for the use by the official food control authorities, a traceability chain for organically produced eggs in the EU would need to be implemented as a permissioned blockchain, since only select entities are allowed to participate. By combining a proof of authority consensus mechanism with issuance of soulbound tokens, we effectively suggest a \'proof of soulbound authority\' consensus process. The soulbound tokens are issued throughout the administrative chain from the European Commission down to the official food control authorities in individual member states that ultimately certify the control bodies for organic produce. Despite the general limitation of not providing unambiguous proof of the organic status of individual products, the concept discussed here offers advantages with respect to allocation of authority at EU level and therefore might have positive effects beyond the traceability chain.
摘要:
使用区块链技术建立食品可追溯链,有可能为整个供应链提供透明的食品信息,并有助于记录甚至执行官方食品控制流程。特别是在分析方法无法为研究中的食品控制问题提供明确数据的情况下,可追溯链的基于证书的方法可能为国家当局提供一种监管控制的方式。鉴于有机产品的重要性日益提高,鸡蛋在欧盟有机产品中的份额很高,以及2022年生效的新的欧盟有机产品和标签法规,我们在这里分析如何控制鸡蛋生产类型和营销标准可以在基于区块链的可追溯链中表示,例如最大限度地实现符合当前相关欧盟法规的可追溯性。供官方食品管制当局使用,欧盟有机鸡蛋的可追溯链需要作为许可的区块链实施,因为只允许选择实体参与。通过将权威证明共识机制与灵魂代币的发行相结合,我们实际上提出了一个“灵魂权威证明”的共识过程。灵魂代币在整个行政链中发行,从欧盟委员会到各个成员国的官方食品控制当局,最终证明有机产品的控制机构。尽管不提供单个产品有机状态的明确证明的一般限制,这里讨论的概念在欧盟一级的权限分配方面具有优势,因此可能会产生超出可追溯链的积极影响。